My second trip to Iceland led me to discover what truly makes a country “great”.
It’s not the size of the land, the population or the economy. It’s not even the influence it has or had in history and world events. Nor is it measured by its contributions to art, culture, or science. What makes a country great is the quality of life it maintains for the people who live there. For that, I can say that Iceland is a great country.
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Walking in the center of Reykjavik is wonderful. Driving, for the record, is not. The map apps on my phone led us through all sorts of alleyways and paths where no cars could go. Nearly all the streets are one way, and some unexpectedly dead-end onto pedestrian plazas that may have once been streets but now are wide walkways.
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The “Golden Circle” is the very popular 140-mile loop around west central Iceland that offers a sampling of the island’s geology and history, along with some outstanding sights and a stop at one of the country’s more traditional hot springs. With stops for lunch and a couple of hours at the hot spring, usually Secret Lagoon, it’s a full nine hours. Some options include the huge, manmade Blue Lagoon between Keflavik and the airport. If time permits, both hot springs are worth trying out.
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Our plans for Monday called for a daylong drive along the spectacular south coast. I took this tour on my last trip and felt that there was more along the route that I wanted to see this time. Even though the weather forecast confirmed this, I could know without looking that it would be a rainy day. The south coast in summer is like that.
What was amazing was that after driving through one heavy shower and putting up with some lighter ones at are first stop, the weather turned beautiful and sunny, albeit rather windy and cold. Our stops included two spectacular waterfalls, a glacier, a puffin-laden sea cliff, and a lot of walking. Oh yeah. A lot of driving, too. About six hours’ worth, with our turn-around point being Vik, 104 miles distant.
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Though, in my ignorance of the downtown parking situation, I had rented a car for the entirety of my first visit to Iceland, my only long drive was to the northwest peninsula, Snæfellsnes.
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Here’s my full collection of photos from our Iceland trips. Make sure you check out my Iceland blog, too!
With all due respect to Rick Steves, et al, I found some glaring omissions that would greatly help a tourist get along on their first visit to Iceland. These were picked up on a one-week visit, so there are probably more.
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